Yes, unfortunately. Of all the crazy things we saw in our South Beach years, a great one was replacing the convention center parking lot with a park. The first-ever inversion of “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot" I’ve ever seen.

Anne, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. And everything I hear from the Bay Area northward sounds like a different world to me. I doubt I’d ever have much to say that’s useful there. Just two very different cultures.

The NIMBY/YIMBY wars vary substantially across the US and beyond. Here in the southeast, better-quality design has a stronger chance than in other places from which I've heard the war stories. I've long ago given up on persuasion where it has little-to-no chances of working.

Much appreciated, Sarah! And I always greatly enjoy stories like this about people who have built such places or have inhabited them. A strong dollop of reality to season the images and words!